Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed an ancient figure akin to a comic book character in a tomb located in the northern part of the country.

The tomb, which dates back to the 1st century AD, was inadvertently discovered in November 2016 amidst roadworks in the Jordanian city of Beit Ras.

Since the discovery, archaeologists have been examining this complex, which comprises two large burial chambers housing a basalt sarcophagus.

The team, led by French archaeologist Julien Allicot, was particularly fascinated by the frescoes adorning the walls and ceiling of the tomb.

These frescoes portray scenes from everyday life, as well as from the realm of the gods. They feature two hundred and sixty figures of humans, gods, and animals, some of which are accompanied by around 60 captions placed next to the heads of various characters. This technique is strikingly similar to that used in modern comic strips. Just like in comics, these captions describe the actions or dialogues of the characters.

Archaeologists believe that these scenes from the ancient comic depict the construction of the city of Capitolia, located on the fringes of the Roman Empire.

However, while the combination of image and text has surprised the Jordanian archaeologists, this comic book-style representation is not unique. The ancient Egyptians also used captions on some of their murals to narrate a story.

The inscriptions in Jordan possess another distinctive feature. “The approximately 60 texts are in Aramaic, the regional language, but they are written using Greek letters,” explained archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Ion, who participated in the excavation.

This rare amalgamation of the two languages leads Ion to believe that the verses identified could enhance our understanding of the structure and evolution of Aramaic.

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